Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Michael Harris argues that it’s long past time for the Trudeau Libs to start living up to their oft-repeated promise of real change – rather than merely slapping a friendlier face on the same old regressive Con policies. – Tom Parkin notes that Canada’s working class has been ...

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andrew Jackson discusses the challenge of ensuring that stable jobs are available in Canada: Good jobs are a central mechanism in the creation of shared prosperity. What matters for workers is not just being able to find any job but also security of employment, level of pay, working conditions, and ...

ILLUSTRATION: Press Progress’s take on Jason Kenney’s “Brexit” broadsides Thursday night and yesterday morning (Press Progress image). Below: The Acme Professional Dog Whistle, now commanding attention all over the world. It is made in U.K. You don’t even have to make this stuff up! Below that little gem, former Alberta politician Thomas Lukaszuk and Postmedia ...

Miscellaneous material to start your week. – John Quiggin examines – and refutes – a few key complaints about fairer taxes on the wealthy. But Kathryn May reports that the Cons are eager to use public resources to investigate and punish public servants who have exposed the problems with the Canada Revenue Agency, rather than ...

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Louis-Philippe Rochon explains how higher taxes on the wealthy can be no less a boon for the economy than for the goal of social equality: In fact, empirical analysis shows that while the relationship between higher taxes and economic growth is complex, there is no proof that ...

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Les Leopold takes a look at the underpinnings of Bernie Sanders’ unexpectedly strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination. And Sean McElwee discusses the type of politics U.S. voters are rightly motivated to change, as big donors have been successful in dictating policy to both major parties. ...

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – John Thornhill talks to Mariana Mazzucato about the importance of public investment in fostering economic growth – along with the need for the public to benefit as a result: As Mazzucato explains it, the traditional way of framing the debate about wealth creation is to picture the ...

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Murray Dobbin writes that Canadians should indeed see the federal election as a choice between security and risk – with the Cons’ failing economic policies representing a risk we can’t afford to keep taking: (N)ot only is Harper vulnerable on his own limited anti-terror grounds, he is extremely ...

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dana Nuccitelli discusses new research into the real costs of fossil fuels which aren’t reflected in the sticker price for a dirty energy economy: A new paper published in Climatic Change estimates that when we account for the pollution costs associated with our energy sources, gasoline costs an ...

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Doug Saunders observes that Syriza’s strong election victory may signal a sea change as to whether austerity is inevitable, while Adnan Al-Daini notes that the financial sector can no longer take for granted that its profits will be placed above the interests of actual people. Which means ...

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Doug Saunders interviews Thomas Piketty about the need for checks on the undue accumulation of capital, and the readily available means of achieving that end: To solve the problem of rising inequality, you propose small worldwide taxes on capital transfers and on wealth, and prohibitive taxes on ...

Shorter Doug Saunders: I’m suspicious of the role of mere members in shaping party policy. And also of the role rogue MPs might play in shaping decision-making. In fact, what we need is a completely centralized system of government where the prime minister can implement his preferred policies on a whim without giving a damn ...

This and that for your Saturday reading. – Hamida Ghafour writes about the effect of tax avoidance by the world’s wealthy on the lives of the rest of the population – particularly when coupled with austerity pushed based on a lack of revenue: The OECD is a fierce defender of free-market capitalism. But Saint-Amans says ...

Doug Saunders In today’s Globe & Mail Doug Saunders has an interesting article on the difficulty we are having in defining exactly what inequality means: That’s why inequality has replaced poverty as the great political theme of the moment. Once upon a time, we might have believed the two were related – but it turns ...

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Don Lenihan responds to Allan Gregg’s recent critique of Canadian politics, featuring this on the connection that ought to exist between ideology and policy: First, the fact that a policy is based on ideological conviction does not mean it is opposed to reason. According to Gregg, “to ...

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Doug Saunders discusses how corporate cash hoarding is limiting any economic recovery – and what we can do about it: (T)his should be a great time for companies to invest: low prices, low interest rates, cheaper labour costs. A sensible company would build up cash during boom times ...

This and that for your weekend reading. – Doug Saunders points out that we have a relatively simple choice between seeking to exact revenge on criminal offenders and actually reducing crime: We know exactly why Norway has such lower recidivism numbers. Prisoners, being under constant observation, are very easy to study, and they’ve been studied ...

Assorted content for your long weekend reading. – While some of us may recognize that there’s little reason to lend much credence to the talking points spewed out by any Con spokespuppet, others have tried to give the benefit of the doubt as long as possible. But Lawrence Martin notes that even by those standards, ...

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Nycole Turmel sums up what Canadians should rightly expect from their government – but figure never to get from the Harper Cons: Canadian families aren’t looking for finger-pointing. They’re not looking to shift the blame. Quite simply, they are looking for action. Action on job creation. Not more ...

Assorted content for your afternoon reading. – Andrew Potter comments on Samara’s most recent findings about federal politicians in Canada: Samara’s findings underscore the profound amateurism that permeates our national politics. When the vast majority of members of Parliament, upon leaving office, feel obliged to insist that well, they never really wanted to be a ...

Assorted content to start your long weekend. – Thomas Walkom highlights the message being sent to students as to what workers should expect in the years to come. And it’s well worth reflecting on whether the problem lies precisely with the politicians so eager to strip away the benefits workers have earned in the past: ...

Doug Saunders’ post on the political role of the middle class is certainly worth a read. But I’d think the core theory demands some significant tweaking in figuring out how politics have actually tended to operate: Andy Sumner, a scholar with Britain’s Institute for Development Studies who is working this year at the Washington-based Center ...